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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

I love organizing. Scratch that. I heart organizing! But when it comes to paper clutter, I have to say, it's pretty much my absolute least favorite project to tackle. I like to get crafty, paint and design when I organize. It keeps me excited and motivated and makes it fun! But piles and piles of papers.... well, you know. Not as much fun, that's all.

But it has to be done! And it turns out, that although I am no paper filing expert, I have done a few things well over the last couple of years. And, a few things not so right. But hey, live and learn!

Since this is Home Office month, I vowed to tackle paper piles with you. I actually blogged about how I filed and organized my paper piles awhile back here and here. So, consider me half way there already. I have a file box with files for all of our long term documents. Life Insurance, Medical Insurance, Retirement, Investment Details, Birth and Marriage Certificates. You know, those important grown up things that you need in paper form and refer to once in a blue moon, but you need to hold on to. That system has been working swimmingly.

And then there is all that other paper.... the paper that comes in daily such as statements, cards, receipts, etc... I didn't have much of a system for those papers and that is where I suffered. I would toss them into random file folders, or worse, a bottomless pit of a box to "deal with another day". Hanging my head in shame now... but here is what I started with:

So you have a better idea of all of my semi-organized chaos of paper piles, here they are labeled for you.

Bills have a system that I will be sharing next week, but it was the statements, receipts, etc... that didn't. They were now this:

Throughout 2012 I would toss random papers into a document box and say, "I will get to that another day". A handful of times I would need to find something, and I would go straight for the box and a few minutes later, I had what I needed. So, I say it was working so-so. But absolutely not ideal and absolutely not a system that could continue before it would become major chaos.

Looking at the pile, I saw a plus amongst the negative. Those were the only statements and papers from the entire year. And many of those papers were personal docs I created along with random work files, so the fact that our statement pile {bank, mortgage, medical, etc...} was on the low side of things, meant I was doing good about going paperless with everything else.

So how did I tackle my piles?

I started by creating a list of categories for all of the papers I touch every day. I wanted my file box to continue to hold those long term and personal documents, and I needed an easier system for those every day papers.

Once I had my categories, I used my favorite Washi tape file labeling method {adding fun splashes of color and a non-permanent labeling solution} to folders that I would want to access frequently.

Current projects I am working on, To Do's, Travel docs, Blog Contracts and important statements that I would eventually need to reference {and scan in to go more paperless}.

I laid out all folders on the kitchen table.

And worked my way through the tall stack of papers. Forty five minutes later and I had all of my paper piles sorted!

This box was now a "To Shred and Recycle" box instead of a paper hoarding box.

And once it was all condensed down, I had systems that now make much more sense and should be simple to maintain.

For our annual tax documents, I had them all together, but I needed a way to keep them divided by year. So I created a few quick labels for the oldies and future ones.

Then, I picked up some fantastic plastic envelopes which were the perfect solution for holding the important documents along with the corresponding receipts and statements.

Once they were labeled by year, I popped them into a metal basket {found awhile back at HomeGoods}, along with a file folder so I have a quick dropping place for current year tax docs until filing time.

The file box will go back on my desk shelves and the daily folders are now easily accessible above my workspace {accordion desktop file keeper found here}.

I realized that the file box wasn't super quick and easy to access {yes, I am lazy, but I would have to pull it down, open it up, dig through the files each time I wanted to file something away}. It made sense for fewer and far between docs that I need less frequently. For the items I need constant access too, popping them up above my desk with labeled folders should make things much more easy to maintain.

So there you have it. How I am plowing through our personal paper piles. Although it wasn't the dreamiest project with a beautiful outcome, it is sure to make a positive impact on our day to day lives to have a set and simple place for everything.

To summarize:

Only you can decide what you truly need to keep and let go of. I called some financial institutions to determine how long they can pull our statements should we need them in an emergency.

List out the categories of the types of papers you keep and file down your piles accordingly.

Keep your systems simple. If they are too hard to access or too complex, will you really keep up with it from day to day?

Go paperless whenever possible. We pay 90% of our bills online {only since the other 10% do not offer that as a service yet}. Statements can be viewed online and can even be saved as a PDF. For the ones I receive as paper, they will be scanned in and saved, and easier to find down the line as well.

Whistle while you work. Or not. I played music and it made the task much more happy. And it wasn't as bad as I thought, in fact, it was like other projects in which I felt accomplished and giddy when all was said and done!

What office project have you been putting off, but now has you jumping for joy now that it is done? What are your favorite tips for conquering paper piles?

Psst! I am not a financial pro or consultant, so recycle and shred at your own risk. I am just sharing what is working for us and how we are trying to handle things better.

107 comments:

I wish I could convince my mother to be this organised, I'm really organised but she just throws stuff in a cupboard, I'll take tips from this when I finally get round to sorting through all her paperwork with her. Thanks a lot! :D

Good advice... but we're getting rid of our home office (converting it to a baby's room) and now we're trying to figure out how to stay organized with all these papers and such without having a designated office space, or even a desk for that matter (we use our laptop exclusively and really don't see the need to create a workspace, since we don't work from home and we don't have a place for one anyway). But living for soooo many years with an office, I'm totally lost. If you come across any tips, I'd love if you could share them with your readers!!

Many file boxes {as the one I use}, are very compact to hold the basic papers that you may need to hold on to. It could be tucked in a single cabinet kept on a counter. Our papers now leave a very small footprint in our home, and could leave even less if we continued to scan in every document that comes our way.

Try picking up a file drawer unit like this one from Ikea:http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50213080/

I have a two of these that I use as bedside tables. The bottom drawer holds files, while the top three can hold any night time necessities. You could also use these as side tables near a couch, or as a drop zone next to a door.

I am tackling the same exact problem. I currently have a big bonus room on our 2nd floor that houses 2 huge desks, 6 bookcases and a couch... and we are slowly preparing to add to our family by repairing the ceiling in that room and thus, moving our office to a very small desk in the basement... with zero bookcases...

I am documenting the process in a blog, which you are welcome to check out {prettywellorganized.blogspot.com}. I'm planning to post the downsizing to the small desk in the next couple weeks.

Look around your home for wasted space. We have a three bedroom home and in each of the closets there was a 3-4 foot gap between the ceiling and top shelf. Just by adding an extra shelf in each closet gave us a ton of extra storage. All of our paperwork is stored on that top shelf in the master closet.

I use the Neat Scanner and I will say, it's an incredible tool which is super quick and simple to use. I am in love. However, I have used a typical scanner in the past and that worked also, it just didn't provide the extra filing and quick scanning options that the Neat Desk does.

The chair and the cover were from Pottery Barn. I received the chair on great discount, however, thought it came with the cover and it did not, so it ended up being pricier than I would have liked. I later purchased the same style of chair from IKEA for another area of the home and I honestly can barely tell the difference in comfort/style, however, IKEA wins hands down in the price department.

Thanks! I found it at See Jane Work: https://www.seejanework.com/productcart/pc/See-Jane-Work-Basic-Desktop-Organizer-105p1545.htm but I also used one in my brother's apartment and found his at Target.

I once had a filing cabinet with folders for everything. It was such a pain, my filing would pile up all year. Ugh - it clearly wasn't working for us. Now I file everything for a year in a 13 pocket accordion file, organized by month. In the last pocket I have one file folder for receipts and one for tax documents. I keep the accordion file in a cabinet in my kitchen, where we sort mail most often. This really helps me file as things come in rather than at the end of the year.

I also spent time deciding what we really needed to keep and what could go. Most bill statements now come electronically. I don't keep receipts for things I buy at Target because they can look up the purchase with my credit card. I also stopped keeping receipts from Amazon because they have them posted to my account. These changes dramatically improved my paper situation.

Financial institutions are required to maintain documents for 7 years. IRS can audit you up to 7 years later. Those docs are important to maintain. Also, investment purchase records should be maintained for as long as you own the investment. Then kept with your tax documents for the required 7 years.

I have a similar process for my medical records, receipts and bills. However, mine is just plain manila folders thrown together on a bookshelf. I think next time I have a few free hours I should invest in some new folders and a box for them!

Thank you for this post! My husband and I are trying to find a method that works for us. Unfortunately, living in an apartment doesn't leave much room for a large desk space, but we have resorted to filing bins as well.

The folders are actually at eye level when I am standing, so they work OK for me to quickly grab and put back. But kudos to you for being able to recognize what would work for you and what wouldn't. That is half the battle and the most important part of organizing!

May I ask what you do with all of those instruction manuals and warranty papers that come with electronics and appliances. Do you even keep them? I find those take up a lot of space in my file drawer.

And, what type of mortgage docs does one need to keep? We just refinanced and have this huge stack of papers we got at closing. I have the ones from previous purchases and refinances, and I'm sure it's not necessary to keep those, correct?

Great questions! I do not keep the instruction manuals for majority of the items we purchase since they are almost always found online {just do a simple google search and you should find the manual which can be downloaded and saved as a PDF}. They are so bulky and I personally don't have the space to store them all. And I can count on one hand the number of times I have ever needed to look at one {or when I couldn't easily just find an answer on google}.

As far as your mortgage docs, that is really up to you. We have refinanced and I only keep our original home documents from when we built, along with our current financial docs {any in-between have since been shredded since they are no longer relevant}. You can see how I store them here: http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2011/01/january-challenge-project-paper-legal.html

The warranty manuals are something I really need to go through. I do try to make copies of our receipts for major purchases (appliances and such) because the originals fade over time and usually attach them to the manuals. But, you are right. Most of them can be found online now. Might just need to look into scanning the receipts and pitching the bulky manuals!

Paper clutter bug me and I try to clean and put away once a week. My son's medical paper right in file cabinet because with state law that we as parents cant access his record online because of he's about to be teen so both my husband and myself can access all medical info online. Receipts goes into money pocket I found at office store and toss once statement get here and checked all. Other papers I always file right away. Most of my bills are paperless and pay bills online. I use a website and iPhone apps called Manilla that tracking all bills info and due dates own every bills in one place and one password access. I love how it works great!

You even managed to make paper organization look pretty and fun! I love all of the folders, labels and washi tape choices! Paper clutter is the WORST, but there is hope that it can be organized and attractive. :-)

Thank you so much! I use an Epson Labelworks Label Maker: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005J7Y6GS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=iheaorga-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005J7Y6GS

I bought those EXACT file folders at The Container Store this weekend to pretty up my work files. I gave the doggie ones to a dog-loving coworker but I love the other two.

I've been tackling my office paper filing system today and hope to share the updates with you soon. I have always hated filing but now I love my system so much I smile every time I have something to put away. :-)

I love the desk. Did u make it? I have an empty "corner wall" b/c my closet only goes halway accross the wall. I would love to learn how I can make a desk from scratch (by putting boarding along the wall). You did that once, right? Do u have a post about it?

We did make the desk, thank you! :) You can find the details here: http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2012/02/basement-progress-studio-desk-part-5.html with links that take you back to the beginning of the project.

Ahhhh! I so need to do this. I feel like I need to dedicate a whole Saturday to just tackling this. Thanks for the nudge. You always make it look effortless and so beautiful. Do you always do your work from your desk?

Haha, yes and no. I have no natural light in that area of the home, so I use my laptop and move from place to place to work during the day. But that is where it all lives and I spend many hours of my life in that spot. :)

I love your desk and wall unit. Where did you get that? Great tips, but my problems is actual space and finding space out of sight for my papers and my cardstock and hand made cards. thx. bluemoonbynite(at)yahoo(dot)com

We made the desk, thank you! :) You can find the details here: http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2012/02/basement-progress-studio-desk-part-5.html with links that take you back to the beginning of the project.

I would like to suggest that your important docs like life insurance policies, birth and marriage certificates, passports etc should be kept in a fireproof box so they cannot be destroyed since they are hard to replace.

I recently switched home insurance and received a stack of new documents. I keep the paper copies of anything that important, but it occurred to me - if the house burned down, I'd need a copy of the original documents in case the insurance company played games with the terms of the policy. I scanned the documents and simply uploaded the PDF to google docs. While I have some concerns about "cloud" storage and security, it's not a bad idea to have access to select documents from anywhere or in case the copies in your house aren't accessible.

I have been storing my tax documents in an accordion file -- it's perfect because there are 7 slots which is how long you need to store tax returns. Once all 7 slots fill up, I know it's time to shred the earliest return. :) I recently "upgraded" to one of Staple's Martha Stewart accordion files so now my system is pretty, as well as extremely efficient. I also think it works great if you're someone who takes your documents to an accountant or firm who files your taxes for you.

Also, for anyone considering a Neat Desk you might want to spend a bit extra $ and opt for a Snap Scan. I know a few people with one, including my dad, and they are over the moon about it. It does everything a Neat Desk does, but more and faster. Without even having to "tag" documents with key words (which you have the option of doing), you can search for a word and it'll pull up every document with that word in it. You can also "mark" sections similar to highlighting in a textbook. I was also told that lawyers are even allowed to use it in court; it's that reputable/legit.

Thank you for posting this inspiration. Paper organization is actually one of my favorite forms of organizing, but since my baby came into the picture 10 months ago, I'm ashamed to say piles of mail, paid bills, etc. have popped up all over my desk. This month I'm going to tackle them!

I absolutely LOVE your Blog! I'm making a trip to IKEA tomorrow and plan to make a desk similar to yours - thank you so much for sharing your steps along the way! I am so grateful that you provided links to all the products! I have my shopping list all ready - can't wait to become organized! Your blog has inspired me so much! Thank you!!

Thanks for sharing the link for the cute accordian file holder. I saw one in a pottery barn catalog just the other day and wanted to order it, but it wasn't listed. My paper clutter is so bad right now. You've definitely inspired me to get it under control.

I've been making over my filing system since reading your blog Jen, and it's made such a difference. I'm still not quite on top of it, but changing from a clunky, way-too-big filing cabinet to a small, easy to access file stand and using pretty coloured hanging files I find it so much easier to keep on top of things.

Things still do pile up in my in tray, but as soon as it starts getting full it doesn't take long to go through everything and sort it all into where it needs to be. I like to watch videos on YouTube while I file :-)

Very pretty and practical!One thing you mentioned is receipts. Can you go into more detail about what you do with store receipts? Their size doesn't lend themselves well to a file folder. I keep them for credit card statements and to track spending. Beyond monthly references there are some I like to keep for a longer term for returns or as a reference for a repurchase. I'm never sure what to do with them. I sewed a little fabric envelope and they seem to live in there, but some I've been carrying around for a LOOONG time :O)

I switched to the freedom filer last year and love them they take all the guess work out of finding documents. However I really would love to switch to completely digital/paperless! Just haven't done it yet. Recently purchased David Sparks "Paperless" book on iBookstore it is really great and purchased a Scan-snap so just need the time to flip the switch to paperless.

Love this! Paper clutter and I go way back! :-) I'm much better about it now, but still have my unorganized moments with it. I can't stand loose papers and things around the office/home! I do have a bad habit of "getting to it later," but keep finding that if I just deal with it right then, it saves time for organizing something else that needs attention!

Wow Jen I have been following your blog but have never commented on any blog before now. You have touched on so many points that have been such a burden over me as in the organization department. I am a mom/artist/designer/teacher/wife. By nature artist tend to have alot of STUFF and taking CONTROL of the madness has left me overwhelmed. In reading your blogs and recently seeing you on HGTV I truly have been inspired to just start. I have begun tackling the office/studio space and I really need to begin the PAPER MONSTERS!! Trying to find space in my tiny studio when it has so many purposes is quite the challenge. Knowing what should be in there and what and where the other stuff should live. Thanks for helping me get started.

This is so helpful and so pretty!! I really need to work on my paper piles. I'm pretty organized in most areas of my life, but paper just makes me crazy. In fact, I think I found your site because you had those awesome file covers for your boys' school work. Do you have a recommendation of where to buy the file boxes for those? I have looked a little bit but not been able to find anything I like. Thanks so much! :)

I have to say it.. I am totally in love with the bright colorful way your desk looks! And because of you, I now use washi tape on EVERYTHING. Including as easy removable labels! Perfect and pretty solution!

Love this! I tackled this project a few years ago with a very simple filing box and a few folders. Not nearly as pretty as yours, but just as functional! Now, every day when I get the mail, I open, sort and file it immediately. Some of it goes into my "inbox" which I try to deal with by the end of the week. On Sundays I go through the inbox and pay bills, make phone calls - whatever. It takes a lot less time each day and is so much less stressful when I don't have a huge daunting task staring at me when I sit at my desk every day! :)

We actually made the desk. :) You can find the details here: http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2012/02/basement-progress-studio-desk-part-5.html with links that take you back to the beginning of the project.

Hi Jen love your ideas so much! Thanks! On the paper files I saw this idea have been using it. Its great you know how you have home binder under financial add more folders label them for your current bills and when they are paid punch hole them along with your reciept keep them there for the whole yr then when Dec comes you file them away this makes it all in one place and also have a calendar write in red when you paid them and date too. Renee

Hi Jen,I am a huge fan of your blog! Pretty sure we could be identical twins in regard to how we love to organize, decorate, craft, etc. My office is my weakness, for sure, and it's on my list for this month. I was SO excited to see your post on managing this room! Thank you so much for all your tips!!!Laura

HI! I found these great products for helping with the piles on my desk! I only use the Pile Tile since that is the way I create the piles on my desk (read, follow-up, pay) but the others look helpful too especially since you can write and label on them.

I am a new subscriber and absolutely in love with your techniques to organize life! I realize this is an older post, however, do you recall where you purchased the polka dot storage box? It's adorable and I would love to purchase. Thanks and keep inspiring!!

Thank you so much for taking a moment to join in the conversation! I read and sincerely appreciate each and every comment, however, I will remove any comment that I believe to be inappropriate, malicious or spam like. I would love for this comment section to be used as a place to engage in purposeful dialogue, and criticism/feedback is best received when shared constructively. This blog is my happy slice of the internet, let's keep it that way!